


Star of Alzira (Alcira no Hoshi)

by MidoriKurenaiYume



Category: Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Dialogue, F/M, Galaxies, Some Humor, Taxis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-09-29 07:07:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17198864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidoriKurenaiYume/pseuds/MidoriKurenaiYume
Summary: Arturia is an intergalactic taxi driver. Gilgamesh is a rather reluctant customer.





	Star of Alzira (Alcira no Hoshi)

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: nothing, absolutely nothing regarding galaxies, stars and light speed makes sense in this fic (I did try to use the correct names and distances, but I didn't try that hard). It's meant to be humorous. Hope you enjoy :)  
> ([here](https://agilartlogbook.tumblr.com/post/181489673085/star-of-alzira-alcira-no-hoshi) on tumblr)
> 
> Title: from a single released by Kalafina & Shinji Tanimura. ‘Alcira’ indicates the Sirius star in Arabic ;)))

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“Good morning, sir. Where would you like to go?”

Arturia had long since perfected her polite smile and words, but one glance at the rear-view mirror told her not only that her customer wasn’t impressed, but also that she wasn’t going to like his following words, almost certainly meant to insult her.

“If it were up to me, I would go to a much more luxurious vehicle instead of taking a common _taxi_ ,” he drawled out dismissively.

She had been right: it had been meant as an insult. But while she felt the full force of it, it wasn’t enough to faze her.

“I completely agree with you, sir, but due to all limousines being on strike, today you will be travelling on a taxi. What is your destination going to be?”

And she waited patiently, staring at him in the mirror, hands ready on the wheel and gear shift.

She met his gaze, feeling slightly surprised to notice that he had brilliantly red orbs – like her friend Irisviel, whom she had driven to one of her company’s events just before he had become her new client – which told her that he belonged to Andromeda’s elite.

The look he replied with made it clear that he had caught her sass in not-so-subtly telling him she wasn’t thrilled by his presence in her car either, but he seemed to decide to let it slide and replied shortly, “Proxima centauri.”

Arturia knew that it was quite far from their current location in the middle of Andromeda, and she rapidly planned the fastest route in her mind as she swiftly entered the immensely jammed road that would lead them to the nearest jump point. She only spared her customer a brief glance as she did so, choosing to focus on traffic. She wasn’t one for small talk to begin with, and with this specific man, she wouldn’t even bother wasting her breath.

She expertly slid through what threatened to soon be a traffic jam and within a minute was ready to enter the jump station.

Checking her own seatbelt out of habit, she then glanced at the rear-view mirror as she politely advised, “Please fasten your seatbelt, we are about to cross a galaxy in the span of four seconds.”

The man looked at her with a raised eyebrow, plainly letting her know that he thought her words to be unnecessary.

“Since stabilizers have been invented, space jumps have no longer been causing any problems.”

His tone was patronizing and, even though her fingertips itched slightly and her hands tightened on the wheel, she managed not to snap at him.

“The stabilizers are present only in luxurious vehicles and their use is reserved for private jump points, sir,” she pointed out, having to fight to maintain her tone filled with as much civility as possible. “Taxis are normal cars and this is a normal jump point, therefore I strongly recommend you fasten your seatbelt – and if you don’t want your impeccable hair to suffer, you will probably want to wear your hat as well.”

She glanced at the jump point area, feeling glad that her uniform included a driver’s hat under which her hair was tightly braided in preparation for this. “Please do it _now_ , sir. We are less than fifteen seconds away from the jump.”

She did not check whether he was obeying as she manoeuvred the car forward, taking the spot before the liquid gelatine that would allow them to cross galaxies.

She rolled down the window before the officer in charge.

“Where to, Arturia?” Lancelot asked with a calm smile.

She returned the smile and answered, “The Milky Way.”

From the corner of her eye, she noticed her customer frowning at her reply, but as soon as Lancelot nodded at her, indicating that he had set the coordinates, she quickly drove forward into the gelatine.

A faster-than-light-speed trip later, she was driving out of the jump point, entering the immensely chaotic highway filled with people coming from the Solar System, whom she knew were probably going on vacation. She had no trouble in bringing the taxi to a relatively less crowded lane, where she could speed up in the direction of Proxima centauri, which according to her calculations was appropriately close to the exit she had chosen.

Only then did she look into the rear-view mirror again, and she had to valiantly hold back a laugh at her customer’s disgruntled, extremely disorderly appearance. As if he had felt her eyes on him, his head snapped up – his hair was now a complete mess, as she had predicted – and he gave her a chilling glare, which only made her have to fight harder against a smile.

As he shook his hair and straightened his clothes, managing to regain his composure in an enviably short amount of time, he commented curtly, “You could have chosen to jump directly to Proxima, instead of taking this detour in order to make me pay more.”

Arturia’s eyebrows rose as she took the right exit, knowing perfectly that they were about to arrive, and replied, some coldness in her voice now, “There is no direct exit to Proxima – or at least,” she corrected herself, her tone becoming flat, “none that is accessible to taxis. The closest jump point is the Milky Way, with the exit near the Solar System.” There was a pause. “We’re here.”

He did not comment as he stiffly offered his card, watching her swipe it next to the dashboard before giving it back to him, and the car door opened to allow him to step out. A new law had been passed a few years before, ensuring that taxi doors – but also doors at shopping centres – would not open before the customers swiped their cards, making sure they could not leave without paying. It wasn’t pleasant, but as thefts had allegedly been occurring rather often, there had been no better solution that would satisfy everyone.

“Are you from Andromeda?”

Arturia looked into the rear-view mirror again, realizing that the door was still open and her customer hadn’t left the car yet.

Confused, it took her a moment before being able to reply evasively, “That’s where I currently work.”

He nodded, acknowledging her reply, and then went on, “Do you know what building you were in front of earlier?” At her uncomprehending look, he specified, “Where you picked me up.”

She replied cautiously, not understanding what he was trying to get at with his questions, “It’s the von Einzbern’s buil–”

“It’s not,” he cut her off. “It’s one of my offices – one of the Uruk buildings, no longer belonging to the von Einzberns.”

Not knowing what she was supposed to say to that, she simply gave a nod.

“Good,” he said unexpectedly, his eyes looking satisfied. “Be in front of my building at nine in the morning sharp, with the limousine, for the rest of the week.”

She looked at him, disconcerted, but instead of reacting with irritation, he smirked at her.

“You shall be my personal driver,” he announced, as he leaned down to type something on his phone.

She stared at him for a brief moment, and then gave him a firm, “No.”

He raised an eyebrow, but still worked away on his phone.

“I have no need for your charity, nor am I a servant you can order around,” she continued, her tone categorical. “I am a taxi driver because I _enjoy_ it, and since I took you to your destination and you paid for my services, every exchange between us is now concluded. Have a good day.”

“I expected you to say as much.” He looked up from his phone, his being unfazed revealing that he had a different plan in mind and had just been testing her earlier. “I just needed enough time to check my agenda. Come out to dinner with me when you’re free one evening.”

She opened her mouth to answer in the negative – she was bewildered by his request to say the least – but he anticipated her.

“If not dinner, then lunch.”

Seeing her ready to protest again, he raised his chin and gave her a pointed look. “You are interesting in an unusual way, which means that I definitely intend to see you again.”

Arturia felt her cheeks redden in spite of herself, and barely held back an irritated noise.

She was certainly not going to go out of her way to meet this customer outside of work, so lunches and dinners were off the table.

She couldn’t exactly tell him off either though, and after another second of consideration, she therefore ended up saying, voice carefully controlled, “If you intend to see me again, you should take the taxi more often.”

To her surprise, as she had expected him to explode, he instead gave her a new, slow smirk. She met his eyes through the mirror for a moment before he finally stepped out, and even without hearing his reply, they were both aware that his message was clear.

She knew that, from this day on, she was going to see him take her taxi many, many more times.

Which meant that, eventually, she was also going to find out his name.

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End file.
